You don’t need stories or dialogue to make a movie. Sometimes you just need some really interesting images set to some really good music.

This point was proved for me almost a quarter-century ago, when I discovered Godfrey Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi (1983), a sort of 86-minute docu-poem that explores the relationship between nature, technology and human society. It quickly became one of my five favorite films of all time, and it made me an instant fan of composer Philip Glass; seven years ago, I even had the joy of attending a screening that was accompanied by Glass himself.